How do I organise a charity car boot sale (declaration at the town hall, registrations)?

Yes: if your association organises a car boot sale or a flea market, you must declare it to the town hall of the municipality where it takes place, at the latest 15 days before the date. The only exception: an occasional sale reserved solely for your members, held on the association's premises, does not need a declaration.

In addition to this declaration, you must keep a register identifying each stallholder. This article details these two official steps, then how to organise your stallholders' registrations and payments with Donoor ticketing.

Declaring your car boot sale at the town hall

The declaration is filed at the town hall of the municipality where the event takes place, at least 15 days before the date if the sale does not take place on the public highway. It is made using the form « Déclaration préalable d'une vente au déballage » (prior declaration of an open-air sale), signed by the organiser or a person they have authorised to represent them, together with proof of identity. You can hand it in personally against a receipt, or send it by recorded delivery with acknowledgement of receipt. The form and full details of the procedure are available on service-public.fr.

If the car boot sale takes place on the public highway, add to this declaration a request for a temporary occupation permit for the public domain, to be filed at the town hall at the same time.

Sales exempt from declaration

An occasional sale organised on the association's premises, reserved exclusively for its members, does not require this declaration.

Important: a law passed on 26 May 2026 amends certain rules on open-air sales, and the decrees that are to specify its application had not yet been published at the time this article was written. Before filing your application, check with your town hall that the rules described here are still those in force.

Keeping the stallholder register

In addition to the declaration, you must keep a register identifying each stallholder. It must be numbered and initialled by the police commissioner or, in their absence, by the mayor, and remain available throughout the event for inspections by the police, the gendarmerie, the tax authorities, customs or the fraud control authority. After the event, file it at the town hall of the event's location, at the latest 8 days afterwards.

Good to know: a private individual may only sell personal, second-hand items, and at most at 2 open-air sales per year. Regularly registered professionals may also sell, as may associations that offer only second-hand items donated by private individuals.

Setting up your car boot sale with Donoor ticketing

Donoor does not replace the declaration at the town hall or the official register, but its ticketing helps you organise your stallholders' registrations and payments.

1. In the Ticketing menu of your dashboard, click New event, then choose a name, a date and a location for your car boot sale.
2. In the Rates tab, click Add a rate for each type of pitch (3 metres, 6 metres, with car…) and set its price. Limit the total quantity prevents you from selling more pitches than you have on your site.
3. In Form, use Add a field to ask stallholders for information useful to your register, for example their identity document number: surname, first name and email are already requested by default.
4. Publish the event, then share the link or QR code with your future stallholders.

Stallholders' payments go to your association's Stripe or PayPal account, as with all Donoor payments: see how to connect Stripe or PayPal if this is not already done. For the detail of each step, follow the Create your event and Tickets, rates and options modules of the Ticketing course.

On the day: welcoming your stallholders

Open Participants within your event to see the list of your stallholders, and click Export to download it as Excel, CSV or PDF: it helps you prepare the register to file at the town hall, but does not replace it — the official register must remain numbered and initialled as explained above.

When each stallholder arrives, a volunteer opens Scan in the Donoor app and points it at the ticket's QR code: the screen displays Valid ticket, and you can check the person's identity at the same time. A stallholder who arrives without a booking? Add them directly with Add a participant, then collect payment for their pitch on the spot with Tap to Pay, without renting a payment terminal.

Penalties to be aware of

There is no limit on the number of car boot sales you organise each year: only their cumulative duration at the same location cannot exceed 2 months per year (or the same district in large cities).

Key takeaways

• The prior declaration is filed at the town hall at the latest 15 days before the event, unless the sale is reserved solely for your members.
• The stallholder register is a separate obligation: numbered and initialled by the police or the mayor, and filed at the town hall within 8 days after the event.
• A private individual may only sell their personal, second-hand items, at most 2 times per year.
• Donoor ticketing organises registrations, payments and the export of the stallholder list, but does not replace the official declaration or register.
• If your school fête also includes a flea market, the same rules apply: see how to organise your school's fête.